The present invention relates generally to adjustable chairs, and more particularly to a height-adjustment mechanism for an armrest.
Various designs for height-adjustable armrests are known. Some known designs require numerous parts and relatively expensive materials, making such designs less cost competitive. Other known designs include relatively few parts, making them generally less expensive, but such designs may not appear to be of a high quality.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,347 issued to Tseng (“Tseng '347”) discloses a design for a height-adjustable armrest unit comprising an L-shaped support bar, a vertical sleeve, and a leverage body. In Tseng '347, a tongue provided at a lower end of the leverage body is adapted to engage a positioning hole located on the support bar. The leverage body may be pivoted to disengage the tongue from the positioning hole to allow the sleeve (and the leverage body) to be vertically adjusted relative to the support bar. While Tseng '347 may reduce product cost with fewer parts, the design may not provide a user with a sense that the armrest adjustment mechanism is of a high quality.
Consequently, what is needed is a height-adjustment mechanism for an armrest which can be manufactured at a low cost, yet is long-lasting and capable of giving a user a sense of high quality.